Love in Sampan is the tale of an unfortunate young woman named Kiu. As she explains in the opening narration, she has known three men: Wah (a boy who worked in her family's shop), Chuen Wang (a local gang boss whom she is compelled to marry) and Man (a university student). But when she accidentally witnesses her best friend, Kim, fooling around with a man, Kiu's sexual curiosity is truly aroused ... and begins to grow.

Ching-yan lives with his young protege Tim and an inventor referred to only as The Doctor. One day they decide to embark on a quest to the Snowy Mountain in hopes of finding a special block of ice that is said to contain the life essence of immortality. The evil Devil King also wants the ice, but Ching-yan thinks that it contains the secret to meeting a woman who appears in his dreams and attempts to keep it for himself.